An effort to bring housing for low-income people to Pacific Grove fails, despite need.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 27, Pacific Grove Housing Manager Anastacia Wyatt went out with a P.G. police officer in search of people without a home for the federally mandated biennial Point-in-Time Count of homeless individuals. The officer knew the places people might discreetly camp out. In the census tract they were assigned, they found 18 people – 17 living in cars, one on the ground.

That same week, P.G.’s plan to apply for a California Homekey grant to purchase the Monarch Resort on Lighthouse Avenue and turn it into 49 apartments with supportive services for extremely low-income people – the same people Wyatt found in the cold that day – was falling apart. After the P.G. City Council meeting on Jan. 19, in which the council voted in favor of applying for $15 million in funds, some residents started complaining. Wyatt says the resort’s owners, the Mahroom family, pulled out of sales negotiations already in process. (The family did not reply to a request for comment.)

When the issue came back to the council on Feb. 16, Wyatt had to amend the Homekey grant proposal to state that the Monarch Resort was no longer available and another site would have to be found, although it appears unlikely that will happen soon. At a meeting of the P.G. Hospitality Improvement District on Feb. 9, hotel owners, including Dianne Mahroom, said they would not consent to selling their hotels for “homeless shelters.” (Homekey projects are permanent homes.) Wyatt points out that refusing to sell for such housing could be ruled discriminatory under federal law.

“This project would have housed every single homeless person in P.G.,so it’s very disappointing that we weren’t able to get the property,” Wyatt says. The same week that residents were complaining on social media and in the local press, Wyatt says she received numerous calls from people who wanted to be considered, including seniors who have lived in the town for decades and don’t want to leave. “This is their community and this is their home. I’d like to find them housing,” she says.

In a pre-application meeting, state housing officials were enthusiastic about the P.G. plan, Wyatt says. She believes the city would have been successful. The city of Salinas, which secured one hotel in 2020 for 100 units through Homekey, was awarded $29.5 million for the purchase of two hotels for a total of 101 additional units for homeless youth, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Feb. 16.